Citation and author metrics – A measure of author impact

Abstract

In the times of 'publish or perish', the researchers continuously  thrive to publish their work in high impact journals so that their  work is disseminated to larger audiences, and is well recognised by others. To publish in the best journal, the impact  or rank of journals is usually compared to make the right  choices. Thus, knowledge about the rank and impact of journals  is important. Considering its importance for the members of our  subject speciality, the details of rank and impact of forensic  1 journals were published in our previous editorial. Likewise, the  scientific world, especially the recruiters, collaborators and  funding agencies are interested to know about the scientific  research output/ impact of the researchers and authors, and the  quality of their work. To assess the impact of authors and their  work, certain metrics called as the author level metrics are  commonly utilized. The scientific analysis of measurements or  metrics is called metrology. To develop an understanding about  impact in research, the knowledge about three related terms in  metrologyviz. bibliometrics, scientometrics, and informetrics is  necessary.